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Legacy.

We hear that word a lot. From pastors and preachers to politicians and presidents, people want to know what difference they’ve made in the world. The legacy of a good person may be filled with multiple success stories and many lives changed for the better, with the positive effects of that life evident for generations to come (ie: Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Jonas Salk, etc.). Other, more notorious, historical figures leave a legacy of pain, destruction, and sorrow in their wake (ie: Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Josef Stalin, etc).

It reminds me of a quote from the movie Gladiator. General Maximus was speaking to his troops when he said…

“What we do in life echoes through eternity.”

To put it another way, I like these words the unlikely angel Clarence Odbody said to George Bailey in the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life…

Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives.
When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

Throughout the Bible, we are encouraged to leave a Godly legacy…

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. ~ Proverbs 13:22

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength.And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them
when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way,
when you lie down, and when you rise up. ~ Deut. 6:5-7

So maybe you are thinking, “What I do doesn’t matter.” If that is your thought, then I urge you to consider…

Edward Kimball.

In the 1850’s, while living in Massachusetts, Edward taught a Sunday school class of teenage boys (no easy feat, to be sure). While visiting a shoe store, he led a young clerk to faith in Christ — a young clerk named…

Dwight L. Moody.

D. L. Moody became a world-changing evangelist. During the Civil War, he ministered to both Union and Confederate soldiers. As founder of the Moody Church and the Moody Bible Institute, his voice and message were heard throughout the nineteenth-century world, in particular by…

Frederick Meyer.

Frederick (F.B.) was mentored by Moody, and went on to have his own nation-wide ministry; a ministry that touched the life of…

J. Wilbur Chapman.

Wilbur was a college student when he accepted Christ at a Meyer meeting. He became a world-renowned evangelist, preaching all over the world; extensively throughout Asia and Australia, and all over the United States. One of his meetings was attended by a young professional baseball player named…

Billy Sunday.

Billy’s life was changed at that Chapman meeting. He accepted the love of Jesus, and began preaching the Gospel across America. This former baseball-player-turned-fiery-evangelist preached to over 100 million people, not the least of whom was…

Mordecai Ham.

Saved under the ministry of Billy Sunday, Mordecai Ham saw over 300,000 people make professions of faith during his ministry. In November of 1934, Ham preached a crusade in Charlotte, NC. During one of the meetings, a young, lanky fellow by the name of Billy Frank accepted Christ as his Savior. Billy Frank went on to be a minister of the Gospel, preaching to an estimated 2.2 billion people across the globe. While some people in the Charlotte area knew him as Billy Frank, the rest of the world knows him better as…

Billy Graham.

The ministry of these men, whose ministries combined have seen billions come to faith in Christ, all started because a man named Edward Kimball allowed himself to be used by God to teach Sunday School to a group of rowdy teenage boys in Massachusetts.

So who are you reaching out to with your life? How are you being salt and light in a world that so desperately needs good influences? What kind word or witness can you share today with one person that may affect hundreds (or thousands) in years to come?

Really, you are the only one who can answer those questions. Maybe the idea that you could influence masses of people scares the daylights out of you. If so, just remember this little secret…

Don’t go about it trying to change the world. Just determine to influence one life at a time, and let God do the rest.

Last week, terror attacks in the beautiful city of Paris, France brought to the forefront the fact that Islamic-driven terror is still alive and well in the world. With the deaths of over a dozen people in three days of attacks, Paris was left reeling, and leaders from around the globe converged on the city as a show of solidarity with the people of France. While shock and sadness still remain, some see this as yet another wake-up call in a battle against this destructive ideology. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and a city and nation in mourning.

As new leadership is beginning in our own halls of Congress, it is time for us to lift our voices and demand leadership on the subject of Islamic terrorism and jihad.

Over a year ago, I posted a blog entitled “The Buck Stops Here“, in which I talked about the infiltration of Islamic ideology in the highest levels of our own government, and some steps we can take to combat this enemy. I would like to share that blog once again today…

The Buck Stops Here

(Original post date: 10/2013)

Well, this seems to be the $17 trillion dollar question:

“What is going on in Washington?”

It is disturbing to witness the dismantling of our nation right before our eyes. What we are seeing taking place in Washington right now is nothing short of tragic. There is confusion, division, and unfortunately, deception.

LOTS of deception.

Mystery surrounds the “dismissal” of nearly 200 high-ranking military officers for reasons that range from “questionable” to “absurd”. Scandals continue to plague the NSA, the IRS, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the White House. Questions go unanswered concerning the Benghazi attack, the mistreatment of our allies, and the assault on our Constitution. And as the inexcusable deception related to Obamacare is unfolding before our eyes, the influence and positioning of Muslims in seats of governmental power is slipping “under the radar”… unnoticed, unchecked, and unhindered.

To say “I am alarmed” by the Islamic infiltration of our government at some of the highest levels would be a gross understatement.

Consider, if you will, this case…

Many of you remember the moral scandal that brought down New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. What you may not know is that his wife Huma Mahmood Abedin, a Muslim, worked for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff. While Ms. Abedin was working for Hillary Clinton, she was simultaneously working for a journal promoting Islamic supremacist ideology founded by Al-Qaeda financier Abdullah Omar Nasseef. Her parents support and worked for the terrorist organization led by Sheik Yusuf-al-Qaradawi, the notorious Muslim Brotherhood jurist, who has issued fatwas calling for the killing of American military personnel and suicide bombings in Israel.

In light of these facts, how in the world did Huma Abedin get the kind of high-level security clearance she would have to have in order to work in the State Department, and with unfettered access to the Secretary of State of the United States of America?

Why has nothing been done about Muslim extremists? Why do the questions about Benghazi go unanswered? Why has this administration repeatedly and recklessly chosen to align itself with terrorist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood – at the risk of irreparably damaging our relationship with our #1 Middle-Eastern ally, Israel?

After 9-11, one would think that a long, hard look would be taken before appointing anyone remotely tied to Islam to a high-level government post. However, this administration has chosen to openly welcome Islamists into the upper echelons of U.S. power. Consider these…

Arif Alikhan – Assistant Secretary for Policy Development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Mohammed Elibiary – Homeland Security Adviser.

Rashad Hussain – Special Envoy to the (OIC) Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Salam al-Marayati – Obama Adviser and founder of Muslim Public Affairs Council and its current executive director.

We must pray. We must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting for this nation to return to God. We must encourage our friends to do the same. This has gone far beyond “politics as usual”. This battle has long since crossed into the spiritual realm with the very soul of our nation at stake. We must heed the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14, humble ourselves before the Lord, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wickedness. Then, and only then, will we see the healing of our land.

We must stand for truth. We ARE still a nation under God. No amount of history revisionism can change our Judeo-Christian heritage and foundation. It is time for the church to once again be the church, and stop cowering in the corner of society, fearful of offending hand-picked, government-approved special interest groups dedicated to immorality, ungodliness, and the dumbing-down of Biblical values. It is time for the Billy Sundays, the D. L. Moodys, and the Jonathan Edwards of this generation to arise!

We must stand with Israel. While this administration has done its level best to marginalize and insult our best friend and closest ally in the Middle East, WE THE PEOPLE must never lose sight of the promise that God made to Abraham thousands of years ago when HE promised to “bless those that bless you.” We must pray for Israel, support it in any way we can, and never fail to hold accountable those in our government who fail to do so.

We must communicate with our representatives. It is high time that our elected officials be reminded that they are our representatives, not our rulers; that they were sent to the state house to serve the people, not to enslave the people. Whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Liberal, Conservative, or anywhere in between, these people must be held accountable for the decisions they make on behalf of the people, and understand that failure to act in the best interest of the people will result in their removal by the people.

President Harry S. Truman famously had a sign on his desk in the White House that read, “The Buck Stops Here”. It is time for our representatives to stop kicking the can of responsibility down the road to future generations and stand up for what is “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4).

“What is going on in Washington?”

It is disturbing to witness the dismantling of our nation right before our eyes. What we are seeing taking place in Washington right now is nothing short of tragic. There is confusion, division, and unfortunately, deception.

LOTS of deception.

Mystery surrounds the “dismissal” of nearly 200 high-ranking military officers for reasons that range from “questionable” to “absurd”. Scandals continue to plague the NSA, the IRS, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the White House. Questions go unanswered concerning the Benghazi attack, the mistreatment of our allies, and the assault on our Constitution. And as the inexcusable deception related to Obamacare is unfolding before our eyes, the influence and positioning of Muslims in seats of governmental power is slipping “under the radar”… unnoticed, unchecked, and unhindered.

To say “I am alarmed” by the Islamic infiltration of our government at some of the highest levels would be a gross understatement.

Consider, if you will, this case…

Many of you remember the moral scandal that brought down New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. What you may not know is that his wife Huma Mahmood Abedin, a Muslim, worked for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff. While Ms. Abedin was working for Hillary Clinton, she was simultaneously working for a journal promoting Islamic supremacist ideology founded by Al-Qaeda financier Abdullah Omar Nasseef. Her parents support and worked for the terrorist organization led by Sheik Yusuf-al-Qaradawi, the notorious Muslim Brotherhood jurist, who has issued fatwas calling for the killing of American military personnel and suicide bombings in Israel.

In light of these facts, how in the world did Huma Abedin get the kind of high-level security clearance she would have to have in order to work in the State Department, and with unfettered access to the Secretary of State of the United States of America?

Why has nothing been done about Muslim extremists? Why do the questions about Benghazi go unanswered? Why has this administration repeatedly and recklessly chosen to align itself with terrorist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood – at the risk of irreparably damaging our relationship with our #1 Middle-Eastern ally, Israel?

After 9-11, one would think that a long, hard look would be taken before appointing anyone remotely tied to Islam to a high-level government post. However, this administration has chosen to openly welcome Islamists into the upper echelons of U.S. power. Consider these…

Arif Alikhan – Assistant Secretary for Policy Development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Mohammed Elibiary – Homeland Security Adviser.

Rashad Hussain – Special Envoy to the (OIC) Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Salam al-Marayati – Obama Adviser and founder of Muslim Public Affairs Council and its current executive director.

We must pray. We must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting for this nation to return to God. We must encourage our friends to do the same. This has gone far beyond “politics as usual”. This battle has long since crossed into the spiritual realm with the very soul of our nation at stake. We must heed the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14, humble ourselves before the Lord, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wickedness. Then, and only then, will we see the healing of our land.

We must stand for truth. We ARE still a nation under God. No amount of history revisionism can change our Judeo-Christian heritage and foundation. It is time for the church to once again be the church, and stop cowering in the corner of society, fearful of offending hand-picked, government-approved special interest groups dedicated to immorality, ungodliness, and the dumbing-down of Biblical values. It is time for the Billy Sundays, the D. L. Moodys, and the Jonathan Edwards of this generation to arise!

We must stand with Israel. While this administration has done its level best to marginalize and insult our best friend and closest ally in the Middle East, WE THE PEOPLE must never lose sight of the promise that God made to Abraham thousands of years ago when HE promised to “bless those that bless you.” We must pray for Israel, support it in any way we can, and never fail to hold accountable those in our government who fail to do so.

We must communicate with our representatives. It is high time that our elected officials be reminded that they are our representatives, not our rulers; that they were sent to the state house to serve the people, not to enslave the people. Whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Liberal, Conservative, or anywhere in between, these people must be held accountable for the decisions they make on behalf of the people, and understand that failure to act in the best interest of the people will result in their removal by the people.

President Harry S. Truman famously had a sign on his desk in the White House that read, “The Buck Stops Here”. It is time for our representatives to stop kicking the can of responsibility down the road to future generations and stand up for what is “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4).

A sailor was on his way out of Algeria aboard a ship that contained a sick missionary. Right before the missionary died, he pointed his hand toward the distant horizon and spoke prophetically: “There lies a land there where the seas wash. There is a native people there that have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

When the sailor finally arrived home, he told his son – and later his grandson – what the missionary had told him. When the grandson grew older, he also became a sailor. He remembered the old missionary’s words, and wrote many letters and diary entries expressing his desire to see the inhabitants of that land convert to Christianity.

The land the missionary spoke of was America.

The sailor’s grandson was Cristoforo Colombo, or as we know him, Christopher Columbus.

From the very beginning, our nation had, at it’s very core, a foundation centered on faith in God. While liberals and history revisionists would like to erase every mention of God from the history books, there is no denying the reliance our Founding Fathers placed on The Almighty. Don’t believe me? Listen to them, in their own words…

“The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United…”
~ John Adams, 2nd U.S. President

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…” ~ Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President

“Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.”~ James Monroe, 5th U.S. President

“The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth.” ~ John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. President

I could go on and on… and on.

The 4th verse of the song My Country, ‘Tis of Thee sums up the prayers and petitions of these great men appropriately…

Our fathers’ God to Thee,Author of liberty,To Thee we sing.Long may our land be bright,With freedom’s holy light,Protect us by Thy might,Great God our King.

Freedom’s Holy Light still burns brightly in America…

That Holy Light which was ignited in the hearts of her Founders, kindled by the dreams of her citizens, fueled by the blood of her soldiers, and sustained in the hearts of her children. It was the Holy Flame that burned brightly during two Great Awakenings, at the Cane Ridge Revival, the Finney Awakening, in the streetlamps of Azusa Street, and in the eyes of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. It is that Guiding Light of God’s love that guided the Pilgrims to the shores of New England, kept freedom’s dream alive in the cold of Valley Forge, illuminated the heart of Abraham Lincoln during the dark nights of the Civil War, was the fire of freedom in the face of imperialism following December 7, 1941, and was the light of hope in the darkness of September 11, 2001.

It was the fire that blazed in the forge from whence came
the timeless inscription on the Liberty Bell:

“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
~ Leviticus 25:10

So… let freedom ring.

Let the sound of freedom be heard in the cries of repentance of the people of God. Let the church rise and once again be the vessel that unashamedly bears the message of forgiveness and hope that the world needs to hear.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” ~ II Corinthians 3:17

No amount of legislation or Supreme Court rulings will change America… only the cross of Jesus can bring real change.

No amount of political correctness will change a single heart… only the love of Jesus can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

No amount of wealth-redistribution can force an ounce of compassion… only identifying with the tears of Jesus can break our hearts for a dying world.

It’s time for we as American Christians to wake up, get up, and go. It’s time for us to get on our knees and pray for a breakthrough… in the White House, the Statehouse, the schoolhouse, and the churchhouse. It’s time for us to be salt and light, look the world squarely in the face and say, “This is going to sting, but THIS is the truth, and the truth will set you free.” It’s time for us to BE the revival we have been praying for, and put our lives out there for that which He gave up His life. It’s time for us to stop asking for God to bless America, but for we as Americans to start blessing Him – through obedience, sacrifice, and holiness.

On this July 4th, I leave you with the words of President George Washington, from his Inaugural Address of 1789:

“In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States.”

May America bless God once again.

“I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” ~ Psalm 34:1